This invention relates to internal combustion engines and particularly relates to an economizer system in which fuel vapors are mixed with air and are fed to the intake of the engine.
In present gasoline engines, either a carburetor or a fuel injector is used to mix gasoline and air prior to combustion. In either case, the gasoline and air are not mixed completely, resulting in less than optimum efficiency and in other problems as well.
In a carburetor system, a jet of fuel is sprayed into a stream of air. A resulting mist of gasoline is drawn into the cylinders. Because the gasoline is not completely vaporized when supplied to the cylinders, it is not completely burned during combustion. Furthermore, some of the unburned fuel will collect on the cylinder walls. This will wash the lubricating oil from the cylinder, so that the cylinder walls tend to erode.
In a fuel injection system, the problems are somewhat more complex, but the results are the same. Some of the fuel remains unburned and some of the fuel collects on the cylinder walls to wash away the lubricating oil.